With even closer quarters and higher contact than most nightlife venues, sex clubs seem uniquely vulnerable in the face of a viral pandemic.īut the long history of harm reduction and safer-sex modifications these clubs displayed in the AIDS crisis also makes them uniquely poised to reopen safely as COVID-19 restrictions ease. That prompted concern that the remaining holdouts in the Bay Area's once-bustling gay sauna and bathhouse world - San Francisco's Eros and Berkeley's Steamworks - might dry up, too. SoMa's Blow Buddies shuttered after 32 years in business, as did San Jose bathhouse Watergarden, which had been operating since 1977.īoth businesses cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for their closure. Last month saw the permanent closure of two landmark Bay Area gay sex clubs.